Matchmaking incidents
by AvaEobane
Summary: In a guild where Mira is barmaid, matchmaking is the hobby of most people - but not everyone is cut out to be a good matchmaker... Already up: Cards and Lightening, Demon and Dark Écriture, Fire Boy and Sky Maiden
1. Chapter 1

**Cards and Lightening**

* * *

He didn't love her.

Well, he told himself that he didn't love her.

There was no reason for him to love her. She was only an alcohol-addicted fortune teller which the annoying ability to look straight through him. She was not powerful enough to be of any interest for him. She was not beautiful enough to fascinate him and he sure as hell did not feel bad he saw her petrified by Evergreen's stone eyes during his attempt to take over the guild.

And even if he had felt bad – which he had not, mind you – it would have been because she was still a nakama. (He ignored the little voice in his head that told him that he had no remorse regarding any other woman who had been victim of Evergreen.)

He also refused to believe that the only reason why he had kept the picture of Cana and Gray for ten years was that he would miss the chance to look at her face without being attacked by Erza who seemed to believe that he was out to kidnap Cana because he did not want to share her with anyone. He denied that he sometimes missed the time when he had talked with Cana for hours because he had been the only one who could understood her misery about her inability to tell Gildartz that she was his daughter.

And since he didn't love Cana Alberona, Laxus was not jealous of that blond playboy from Blue Pegasus who was currently whispering sweet nothings in her ear. No, it was not jealously. It was worry that Hibiscus or whatever his name was might hurt a nakama who also happened to be some strange kind of childhood friend. Natsu would be mad at the flower-guy flirting with Lisanna as well and the Fire Dragon Slayer was dating Lucy and – at least according to Mirajane – on the best way to get married next.

"You won't improve your relationship with her by killing her date with your stare, Laxus," Gildartz said while he leaned on the bar and watched his daughter and her date closely. "And by the way, being jealous makes you look more like a loser than being excommunicated…"

"I already said it before, old man: I am not jealous of Hibiscus or which girlish name that guy has," the artificial Dragon Slayer muttered quietly. "I am just worried that we might lose her to Blue Pegasus if this relationship becomes something serious, you know? She is a good mage."

"Listen, young man," the older S-class mage said calmly. "When I was twenty-five, I stood every day in a bar and watched a beautiful brown-haired woman who sat on a table with her friends. My own friends teased me all the time that I liked her … and I denied it – until the day, she didn't come alone but with some guy. Suddenly, I felt something burning inside of me … and so when I went there the next day, I immediately made my way to her table and asked her out. Three months later, we got married – the rest is history." He downed the rest of her beer. "Two things: Mira has a bet running about the both of you … and when you break her heart, you will **die**."

"Why does everyone think that I have a crush on her?" the blonde muttered.

"Someone close to you might have mentioned something like this," the older man smirked before he walked out of the guild to go on another mission.

"Evergreen…" Laxus hissed as he looked around for his only female bodyguard who happened to be away – as well as Elfman was missing which made it more suspicious as usually.

"Shall I go and search her, Laxus?" Fried asked as he turned away from Mirajane for a moment.

"No, stay here and continue to admire the demon." Laxus wondered for a second when he had gotten this soft before he remembered that he had to kill Evergreen for creating such rumours about him – but before he had a good plan, he remembered that she might be dating Elfman which meant that Mirajane would get involved as well and Laxus sure as hell didn't want that.

"Hibiscus finally left," Natsu muttered from his place on the bar where he was waiting for Lucy to return. The celestial spirit mage was on a mission with Lisanna and Levy – and called it an outing with friends. Erza and Juvia had thought about joining them before another mission had come up and the water mage and the knight had left for this job.

"He was bugging Cana all evening, wasn't he?" Gajeel asked. Despite the Iron Dragon Slayer's attempt to deny it, he was waiting for Levy's return.

Laxus couldn't resist listening to their conversation.

"Why did she even agree on this date if she has no interest in him?" Wendy inquired as she looked up from the book she had been reading all evening.

"She says that she is running out of options for a suitable date for Erza's wedding," Natsu said with a shrug. "And she probably stopped waiting for a certain mage to come around and ask her out after watching her daily since he was allowed back into the guild…"

"I don't even understand how anyone can be too proud to ask someone out!" Gajeel thundered.

Fried coughed politely. He had been talking with Levy lately because of a job they had done together and the Solid Script Mage had mentioned that she had the impression that Gajeel was stalking her lately and that the green-haired man knew now that the Iron Dragon Slayer was _shy _or completely dense since he was obviously unable to realise that the bookworm liked him as well. Fried even mused if Dragon Slayers in general were dense because Wendy seemed to be blind to Romeo's careful advanced as well and Natsu had needed a push from Erza to ask Lucy out … and Laxus acted like a first grader when it came to Cana as well…

"Alright," Mirajane said as she glared at Laxus. "If you don't want to share Fried's fate and meet demon Mirajane, you are going over to Cana now and ask her out for the wedding. You and she used to have such a great friendship … you should return to these good days…"

"I am perfectly aware of these good days," Laxus said. "They consisted of more matchmaking attempts from your side than moments of peace. And I believe that these matchmaking attempts are the reason why she stopped hanging out with me and went over to this _pathetic bunch_."

"Juvia!" Gray yelled as his personal stalker/girlfriend entered the guild along with Erza. "Did you pick up the item we ordered? We need it now."

"Of course Juvia didn't forget to buy this," the water mage said as she held up a pink bottle with red hearts all over it. "I especially asked them to give me the strongest version."

"I love you, really," he said as he took the bottle from her. "Mira, Erza – you grab him and I fill him in," he added with a wide smirk. The both female S-class mages grabbed Laxus' arms while Juvia managed to grab the nose to prevent the blond man from breathing through it. And as soon as Laxus opened his mouth, Gray unceremoniously emptied the bottle into his mouth.

"Now … look at Cana, Laxus," Mira ordered sweetly.

"C-Cana?" he echoed. "I … I like Cana…"

"We know," Gajeel said drily. "Hey, aren't you afraid that someone else might take her away?"

"Take away my Cana? I cannot allow this," he said as he tumbled while he tried to get up. "I need to protect her from those filthy persons. Cana deserves better than those weaklings…"

Fried watched how his former idol staggered away. "Are you sure that this was a good idea?" he asked. "I fear that this potion might have been a little bit too strong for him…"

"Nah, we used stronger stuff before," Mira said amused. "And Dragon Slayers can take it…"

"I think so too," Gray said as he watched how the blond man started to serenade Cana. "Well, now I think that he might be exaggerating a little bit…"

_Baby you light up my world like nobody else  
the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed _

"I see no reason to worry," Gajeel shrugged. "You should have seen the day Bookworm and I mixed love potion into Rogue's drink when he was stopping by this very bar and we told him that it might be a good moment to look at Yukino … we haven't had this much fun in a while."

"What did he do?" Mira asked since she hadn't been there to see it.

"He serenaded her as well before he forced his cat into a cupid outfit and let poor little Frosch carefully throw rose petals on them," Erza sighed. "Dragon Slayers are crazy people, I guess."

"Well, they hung out with a dragon for a long time – what do you expect from them?" Fried asked. "No offence intended, Gajeel, but social skills are hardly your forte."

"Neither are they your strength, punk," Gajeel muttered. "And at least do dragon slayers not fall in love with-"

The firm hand on his mouth prevented him from finishing the sentence and the women in their group stared at Fried who was blushing in a shade that put Erza's hair to shame.

"Guuuuuys!" Cana yelled from the other side of the bar where Laxus were currently trying to squeeze the life out of her. "What the hell did you give him to drink?"

"Something that gives him a little bit more self-confidence," Gajeel said drily. "It was a special brand of whiskey that Erza and Juvia picked up on their mission, nothing serious."

"Nice excuse," Natsu muttered and gave his former rival a thumbs-up.

"Thanks," the black-haired man said before he stared at the bottle in front of him.

"…and so I _promise_ you, Cana, that I'll always take care of you…" Laxus muttered while Gajeel mixed the small reminders of love potion in the bottle with some beer before he replaced Fried's drink with it. Ten seconds later, the green-haired mage emptied it.

Erza made her way over to Cana who looked slightly confused with Laxus' strange behaviour. "Isn't it amazing that he finally had the confidence to confess to you?" the red-haired woman asked while she patted Cana's shoulder. "I believe that it is the most important step on his way to become a better person. Oh well, I remember how Jellal proposed to me … it was so romantic…"

"I see…" Cana muttered before she got up and dragged Laxus outside where the air was cold which sobered her up entirely. "Listen well, Laxus, because I am saying this only once. You are a good guy … actually, pretty nice when you care enough … and because we were friends, I am going to remind you of something which you have forgotten: you are not in love with me. They gave you a love potion … probably to make fun of us. And even though you might hate me for this, I am going to push you into ice cold water to get you out of this."

He stared at her for a second before his grin became even wider yet considerably less dumb. "You are right when you say that they gave me a love potion," he said slowly, "but you are wrong about the rest. Honestly, I was there when they did this to Rogue and I am smarter than falling for this trick as well. The thing is … they only gave me a really good excuse to act like this."

"You only acted like this?" she asked with huge eyes.

"Fact is: I was wrong about you. You are more than an alcohol-addicted fortune tell who can look straight through me no matter how hard I try to keep you out. You don't have to be powerful for me to be interested … and you are beautiful enough to fascinate me…" he sighed. "And yeah, I felt bad when I saw how you looked after Ever petrified you when I tried to take over the guild."

"Are you kidding me?" she asked as she frowned. "Or are you drunk?"

"I was jealous of Hibiscus earlier this evening," the blonde admitted. "I tried to deny it but…"

"Hibiki," Cana said as she crossed her arms. "His name is Hibiki."

"Hibiki, Hibiscus … there isn't much of a different," he snorted. "Anyway, I had enough of lying to myself because I had to realise that it is kinda pointless and that I've been running away for far too long. I needed to turn around and face it like a man would."

"Are you sure that you are sober?" she asked. "You sound a lot like Elfman to me…"

"Damn, Cana, I am sober," he said. "I am just as sober as I was when I ran into you while I was banned from the guild and you did that mission out of town. I am perfectly aware what I am saying … and while I appreciate the way you obviously still care enough to keep your cards in the bag, I am kinda worried because you didn't comment on my confession yet!"

"What is there left to say?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes. "I said what I had to say on the mission you mentioned earlier but obviously, you **were** drunk and forgot."

"You just said that you hope that I'd come back one day…"

"…which obviously meant that I kinda missed you," she muttered. "Dragon Slayers are obviously dense. Natsu is stupid, Gajeel is blind and Wendy is oblivious to Romeo's advances as well!"

"And card mages are obviously too proud to express themselves properly," he huffed. "Anyway, I pick you up tomorrow at twelve. We are going out for lunch … somewhere where the Love Brigade cannot find us," he added with a dark gaze in the direction of Mira and Co.

"Alright," she said. "And if you mess up my chances to get Hibiki as my date for the wedding and refuse to go with me, I am taking out the cards, understood?"

"Alright, Miss Alberona," he smiled. "And we should figure out a way to get back on them for this because I sure as hell don't tolerate to be forced to drink a love potion…"

"I wonder why it didn't work on you," she mused as she watched the way Fried behaved suddenly. "I mean … you drank the whole bottle and he merely got a little bit … and yet you were able to control yourself while he is nearly proposing to Mira over there…"

"Fried always was a light-weight … guess that comes from never drinking with you," he shrugged. "And I kinda heard that being in love might lower the effect of the potion…"

"He has been in love with Mira ever since she went all demon on him and spared his life out of mere kindness," Cana huffed. "I heard the same rumour, sure, who hasn't? But to be nearly immune, you have to be in love with someone for an incredibly long time."

"Um, what about – including the time in the fairy sphere – eleven years?" he muttered while his ears were nearly as red as Fried's jacket.

Maybe it was easier to say it this way because he knew that he would die from embarrassment when he was to say 'I love you' straight into her face. He was too cool to say things like this. He was awesome, relaxed kind of guy and saying this might ruin his whole image which he had been forming for years. And maybe, it was better to say it like this because while he trusted her, he didn't want her to know how easily she could crush his heart and somehow, he had to admit, that he loved her more than he could ever express.


	2. Chapter 2

**Demon and Dark Écriture**

* * *

Unlike his superior, Fried had not much of a chance against the love potion. While Laxus had been able to shake it off pretty fast, the green-haired man was completely captured by the effect of the potion Erza and Juvia had bought during their mission.

_Isn't Mirajane beautiful today?_ a voice whispered inside of his head. _Imagine that someone might come and take her away before you even get the chance to ask her out…_

He tried to fight it but somehow, he had lost the battle before it had even started. He had never experienced love potion before and he had to admit that it was pretty strong, strong enough to make him nearly lose his mind – and he was the leader of the Thundergod Tribe. Laxus, Bixslow and Evergreen would laugh at him for the rest of his life.

"Fried?" Mirajane asked concerned as she rested one head of his shoulder. "Are you okay? You look a little bit feverish…"

He stared at her, unable to understand what she had just said because her deep blue eyes captivated him while her voice clouded the last shreds of sanity he might still have.

"He looks like he needs your help," Gajeel sniggered for he was pretty much responsible for this.

"I agree," the white-haired beauty said as she grabbed Fried's upper arm. "I believe that you need some fresh air, Fried. We can't have you getting ill before Erza's wedding. She might kill you if she would come to the conclusion that you did it on purpose to skip out of it…"

Before the dark écriture mage could say anything, he was dragged out of the bar into the relatively cold air but somehow, it had no effect on his mind. "Mira-san," he said unusually confident as he covered her small hand with his bigger one. "You are as beautiful as the night. Your hair is like the stars and … your eyes are like the sky at night."

"Are you sure that you are alright?" she asked as she pressed her palm onto his forehead. He really shouldn't talk with her like this. Especially not when he had a girlfriend and no matter how sweet and innocent Levy seemed she didn't take it kindly when someone stole something from her. Natsu had paid dearly for taking her favourite quill.

"Just as great as usual when you are close," he said seriously while the shreds of sanity that were still working yelled at him for being so sappy – and for basically confessing without evaluating her feelings for him for another few … years. He had nearly killed her brother after all and he had caused Juvia to get seriously hurt – and the blue-haired water mage was a friend of Mira's.

"F-Fried?" she asked as an adorable little blush covered her cheeks. "Are you sure that you are fine? Oh my, did you drink some of the love potion Erza and Juvia bought?"

She had seen what this potion had made of Laxus: a serenading, extremely charming gentleman and usually, the words serenading and charming weren't used to describe the lightening mage. And Fried had always been more of a gentleman than the blonde – and Mira was considerably worried what the potion had done to the green-haired man. Well, she had to admit that she was always worried about him since she had nearly killed him before her soft and warm personality had kicked in and had made her spare his life. And if she was completely honest with herself, she could also admit that she had nearly transformed into Satan Soul Sitri after some random Fried-fangirl had mentioned that she wanted to use a love potion to make the dark écriture mage fall in love with her. Mira was protective about those who she cared for and while she could admit this, she denied that she was jealous of Levy who had been spending a lot of time around Fried lately.

"N-no!" Fried exclaimed and unknowingly saved Gajeel's live. "I drank nothing of it!"

That was the mean thing about love potions: the 'victim' would usually deny that it had drunken it because it would weaken the resolve of the other person considerably. Laxus had been able to shake it off completely and therefore, it hadn't affected him this badly.

"Hmh…" the barmaid said as she crossed her arms. "You are acting strange today, you know?"

"I am merely worried about Ever and Elfman," he lied without hesitation. "They were suddenly gone and I just don't want that something happens to them. I mean … Evergreen is like a sister."

"Fried, there was something I meant to ask you but I never caught you alone," Mira said as she looked straight at him. "Why are you spending so much time around the bar when you don't drink anything at all? Even Cana – and you know how much she drinks – doesn't spend this much time around the bar, you know?"

"I … um … kinda like your presence around me," he admitted. "It is very … warm and calming after a day of missions."

"You really shouldn't get your girlfriend jealous," she warned.

"Girlfriend?" he echoed while he frowned. As far as he could remember (which was hard with the love potion chanting to him that he should kiss Mira) he had no girlfriend.

"Levy," Mira muttered. "I'd hate to fight her, you know?"

"Yeah, and since I am alive and Gajeel didn't kill me for taking what he claims as his own, I am not dating Levy," the green-haired mage replied drily. "We have been working together lately."

"But Laxus said…"

"…that I was dating Levy? I like her and I respect her but I am not dating her," he said calmly. "But if it bothers you that I have no girlfriend, why don't you become my girlfriend?"

She stayed silent and in spite of the feeling of invincibility the potion induced, Fried realised that he had made a mistake and his ears took his jacket's colour. "Forget what I just said," he muttered. "I am not thinking straight today, Mirajane-san."

He walked away, trying to save what was left of his pride before she grabbed his upper arm and turned him around.

"It is a really bad habit of yours to walk away without facing a problem," she said softly. "You know, Fried, I'd love to go out with you sometime – especially since you are not dating Levy."


	3. Chapter 3

**Fire Boy and Sky Maiden**

* * *

Wendy was frustrated. Unlike Gajeel, she had left the stadium of complete denial weeks ago but unlike Natsu, she hadn't gotten a single step closer to her goal yet. She liked Romeo, a lot, and while her cat was still denying that she liked Happy who was always there to give her a fish, Wendy was slightly jealous because the one she liked never seemed to notice her. Well, this was slightly exaggerated because Romeo sometimes talked with her but it was always about jobs and never about anything else like personal things.

"Where is the problem?" Gajeel asked in this big-brother-voice that he only used when no one else was listening. "Go up go the guy and ask him out. You're a big girl, Wen."

"Your love advice would be more reliable if you would manage to ask Levy out, Gajeel," she said.

"I … I am working on that one," he muttered as he looked at the girl with the books for a second.

"That was what you said last week," she remarked drily. "So, can you brag with any successful attempts on matchmaking, big brother?"

"Juvia and the stripper … punk and the demon…" he shrugged. "Two successful missions."

"And you didn't think that you were playing unfair?" a blue eyebrow rose. "And neither Juvia nor Fried is the person with the greatest social skill in this guild as you might have realised."

"Love potion _always_ does the trick," he replied as he crossed his arms. "I might be able to pull off something like that again … but I fear that it might not work properly. That lightening bastard was **acting**! He and the Booze Chick laughed at us for weeks!"

"She hardly drinks anymore," Wendy commented. "And if dragon slayers are immune, you can't give me anything to muster up the courage to talk with him."

"I could always ask bookworm for help … she might figure something out…"

"And you would have another excuse to talk with her … as if your sudden interest in books and stuff like that wouldn't be suspicious enough," Natsu threw in as he sat down. "Wendy has her eyes set on a certain flame mage, huh? A much younger man … tss…"

"Technically, he is older," Gajeel said as Wendy blushed crimson.

"She was born before him," Natsu grinned. "But anyway, we need to figure something out."

"Jealousy?" Laxus suggested as he sat down with his fellow dragon slayers. "The Fried-and-Mirajane-issue wouldn't have been solved yet if I hadn't mentioned towards the future Mrs Justine that the object of her affection was dating Levy…"

Gajeel's grip on the edge of the table tightened. "You could've caused Bookworm to get hurt!"

"Mira wouldn't have done something drastic," Natsu said to calm the black-haired man down. "I even heard that she and Levy sometimes do jobs together when Levy is annoyed with Jet and Droy which happens at least twice each month…"

"It makes sense for her to be annoyed with them," Laxus muttered. "They can't even protect her properly … they are far weaker than her and I always wonder how she can stand them. I mean … are they still trying to get her to be the girlfriend of one of them?"

* * *

"Cana-nee?" Romeo asked as he spotted the brunette on a bench where she was going through her cards and checking if she still had everything. Lately, Mira had stolen some of them to get her to spill the beans on her relationship with Laxus.

"How can I help you, Romeo?" she asked as she put the complete set of cards back into her bag.

"I … I have a strange feeling whenever I look at Wendy-san … and well, Mira said that I should ask you … because she is going on a date with Fried tonight…" the teenager muttered.

"Ah, and so I was the second best alternative, huh?" the brunette laughed as she looked over her shoulder to check on her boyfriend who was currently trying to cheer Wendy up by slamming Natsu's face against the surface of the desk. She inwardly sighed. Laxus truly needed help with his lack of social skills. She had mentioned this before to the master when they had been younger but he had only said that Laxus took more after his grandmother than anyone had thought. That had made Cana go on a wild goose chase after Laxus' grandmother who was unknown to the guild and Gray who had been forced to help her quickly talked her out of it.

"Are you insulted?" Romeo asked carefully.

"No … I am just wondering why Wendy is that down again…" she muttered before she looked back at him. "Well, you said you have a problem? What is going on, Romeo? Did you set your house aflame? I can't help you with things like that."

"No, no," he said as he stared at the ground. "It is Wendy, you know? She … she is a girl."

"Congratulations, Captain Obvious," Cana stated drily. "She is in fact a girl. Where is the big deal? You used to be able to speak with her without any trouble and now I hear from Charle that you keep ignoring Wendy who is pretty unhappy about that."

"I … I just can't talk with her anymore. I start to stutter and to talk about the most random and boring things, Cana-nee. She would start to hate me if she heard me talking to her!"

"You are in love," she said. "And it is messing with your mind, Romeo. You need to confess before it distracts you during missions. You can ask Laxus about the consequences of keeping things like this bottled up. It would be dangerous for you."

"I don't wanna talk with Laxus. I don't like him … he used to be so arrogant and mean…"

"Don't worry about that," Erza said as she sat down with a slice of strawberry cake. "Laxus is less dangerous than Happy since he dates Cana. Well, as long as you don't stab or fry her, he will leave you alone … and he seriously knows a lot about what happens when you stay silent about your emotions … and believe me, he might draw a seriously dark image of this."

"What I was going to say before Erza interrupted us," Cana said with a little huff, "is that you really should talk with Wendy because if you ignore her now, nothing will be better than before."

* * *

"…Wendy," Natsu said while he patted her shoulder. "You were raised by a dragon. Dragons happen to be proud and fearless creatures … and do you honestly want that your own heart makes you cower in fear whenever Romeo is near? Like Gajeel said: you are a big girl … and Igneel always said that a dragon doesn't know how to back down."

"Did you ever consider the possibility that dragons might have invaded this guild and that they made this the philosophy of every single mage among us?" Laxus asked as he looked at his girlfriend who was talking to Romeo who looked slightly depressed as well. "Look over there, Wendy: Romeo seems to be sad as well. Why don't you go and cheer him up?"

"Dating Cana made a softie out of you, Laxus," Gajeel said while he remembered in the last second that the Lightening Dragon Slayer didn't appreciate it when his girlfriend was called Booze Chick – especially since Cana had reduced her alcohol consumption considerably along the last few weeks. "It starts to worry me. Where is the sadistic bastard you used to be?"

"Do you want to take this outside, Gajeel?" Laxus inquired politely while he rested his palm on the smooth surface of the desk. "I believe I owe you a rematch…"

"Gajeeeeel!" Levy said and appeared on his side. "You said earlier that you would help me carrying these books from the bookstore to my apartment. Could we leave now? I mean, if you have something else to do, it's perfectly fine with me but…"

"No, I've no important business with those morons or Wendy," Gajeel said as he got up while he tried to hide his eagerness to help Levy because that meant that he got more points and that might mean that he would get rid of his pathetic concurrence pretty soon which made him happy. Well, as happy as Gajeel would ever admit to be.

"He is so _whipped_," Natsu shook his head in pity with his fellow dragon slayer. "And they aren't even dating! He is worse than Elfman who thinks that it's manly to carry Evergreen's bags when she goes on another shopping spree."

"I don't even want to know how he will get once they are dating," Laxus said as he shuddered. "Well, maybe we should find another script mage to get Gajeel really jealous … because right now, he keeps admiring her but that means that he makes no real progress."

"First we are going to help Wen-" Natsu interrupted himself as he noticed that the girl was gone.

* * *

"Wendy-chan," Erza grinned like a cat that had just eaten the canary. "What can we do for you?"

"I come t-to talk with Ro-Romeo-kun," the girl muttered shyly while the boy nearly fainted. Shyness, the red-haired S-class mage decided, was surely bothersome when it came to love.

"That's great," Cana said as she patted Romeo's shoulder. "Anyway, Erza and I need to get to that … um … shoe store because they have sale. See you later, Romeo and Wendy."

"I have shoes," Erza muttered. "Jellal would scream in terror if I would get more pairs…"

"Well, I know that but I need shoes for your wedding and it was the best excuse I would come up with," the brunette said. "Wendy and Romeo need a moment for themselves."

They didn't notice how Mira and Fried whispered secret plans at the bar but even if they had been to know what the matchmaker extraordinaire of the guild was plotting, they hadn't stopped her because as Cana had said once: _'You have to be suicidal if you are trying to stop Mira from messing around in other people's lives.'_

Wendy and Romeo never saw it coming. One minute they were busy stuttering and blushing, the next one there was a rune field around them and Mira was grinning worse than the Cheshire Cat. The colour of the both teenagers' faces rivalled Erza's hair while Wendy was close to fainting.

"Mira…" Wendy growled as she tried to regain her usual composure. "I do not appreciate this."

"Too bad that Fried left ten seconds ago," the white-haired beauty grinned. "Oh, and you might want to know what you have to do in order to get out of this, huh?"

"I am actually not sure if I want to hear this," Romeo said while he looked around for Natsu but he was arm wrestling with Laxus and therefore unavailable. "What did we do to you, Mira?"

"Nothing," she admitted, "but I still want to see a little kiss – on the lips. I made sure that Fried did it properly this time after master and Porlyuscia got out of it with a kiss on the cheek after I accidentally trapped them under the mistletoe last winter…"

"I can remember this," Romeo muttered. "The scary pink-haired lady was pretty mad at you…"

"I know," Mira said as she waved at them. "Well, I am going to leave you alone now. Make up your mind and the rest will happen without any problems. I am going to check on Elfman and Evergreen. They had another argument … I really wish they would get over their denial…"

She _skipped_ away, obviously up to another matchmaking scheme.

"I can't kiss you," Romeo muttered as he stared at the ground.

Wendy swore that she heard how her heart shattered. "W-what?" she asked in shock. After her fellow dragon slayers had build up her confidence, she hadn't expected to be rejected.

"I just said that I can't kiss you because I heard from dad that first kisses are really special for girls and you might not want to waste your first one on me," he said calmly while he carefully guarded his facial expression. "And I'd never kiss a girl that I am not dating."

Her heart was healed in less than a second and her face brightened up. He was so considering and friendly – unlike those brutes she usually met. "But what would be … if we were dating?" she asked before she blushed again. "Strictly hypothetically, of course…"

"Well, if you were my girlfriend – hypothetically – I'd kiss you and I would offer you a walk in the park afterwards," he muttered. "And I'd dance with you at the wedding…"

"I'd like to go for a walk and to dance with you – if I was your girlfriend, of course," she said quickly as she noticed that she had nearly slipped up. "But since we aren't girlfriend and boyfriend, we need to re-evaluate the whole situation," she added quietly.

"I know … and since it is pretty unlikely that a girl like you would go out with a boy like me…"

"What do you mean by this?" she asked as she looked at him with confusion written on her face.

"Look, you are the Sky Dragon Slayer, the most helpful among the dragon slayers we have," he said. "I am just a simple fire mage, nothing special. Girls like you don't date boys like me. It is an unwritten rule. Mira didn't go for a simple mage, no, she went for the master of dark écriture…"

"B-but … I like you," she whispered. "I think you are very strong in your own way … and you are far stronger and better than I could ever be. I mean … Dragon Slayers are powerful but you should hear Gajeel when he talks about Levy. According to him, she is stronger and taller than he could ever be … and I feel the sa-same way about you, Romeo-kun. You are a wonderful mage, I _know_ it." She took his hands into hers and smiled up at him. "You are going to grow!"

"Thank you, Wendy-san," he said he bowed his head. "But I still think that you are really good yourself. You are at least as amazing as Natsu-nii."

"Thank you, Romeo-kun," she muttered as she looked down again. "B-but … we still need to get out of this rune cage. What are we going to do now?"

"Well, you said that you like me," he muttered while his cheeks were crimson once more. "Now I was wondering if you like-like me…"

"If you mean like-like in the way Natsu like-likes Lucy, then yes," she muttered as she studied the floor as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. "What about you?"

"I like-like you as well," he said. "And … I was wondering if you are up for a walk in the park after we get out of this misery…"

She nodded before a strange feeling of confidence and glee ran through her veins and suddenly, she leaned in before she pressed her lips onto his for a few seconds before she pulled back – blushing like mad and stuttering like never before. Romeo had a hard time to understand a single word and pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's alright, Wendy-chan," he said while he rubbed her back. "But you might want to leave this guild before anyone realises what is going on right now…"

* * *

**AN: I totally love how my brain ran away with the original idea for this and left me with this.**


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